Shefali Misra, PhD

I have taught at Saint Michael’s College since 2009, before which I taught briefly at Oberlin College, Ohio. My research relates to the challenges of combining diversity with the civic cohesion demanded by democracy, both from the perspective of designated “outsiders” and of “members” who collectively make decisions about bestowing or withholding membership. UntiI 2000, I was a financial and political journalist for four English-language national dailies in New Delhi, India, for 11 years. In that role I traveled widely and wrote about international relations, and especially the politics of global trade. During that time, I reported for my home newspapers from Singapore, Geneva, London, Brussels, Geneva, Berlin, Bonn, Paris, and Seattle. My teaching of political theory and practice is thoroughly informed by this professional experience of “real” world politics and as well as the personal experience of spending over half of my life in the world’s most diverse developing country. I always strive to give students a flavor of the reality of the world in which we live and how that both shapes and circumscribes the possibilities of the world that we might one day live in.

Areas of Expertise:

Political Theory and History of Political Thought

International Relations and Political Economy

Courses I Teach:

(Modern) Western Political Thought

Multiculturalism in Theory and Practice

Introduction to Politics

Feminist Political Thought

Democracy and its Critics

Identity in Politics

Introduction to International relations

Politics of the World Economy

Research Interests:

History of Political Thought, Liberal political thought, Rousseau’s Political thought, Democracy and diversity, Nationalism and citizenship, Politics of identity. My publications are in the fields of liberalism, multiculturalism, and Rousseau’s political thought and my current research is on the relationship between democracy, liberalism, and nationalism.

I am currently researching the relationship between democracy, nationalism, and liberalism and Rousseau's political thought. I am interested in studying the History of Political Thought, Liberal political thought, Rousseau’s Political thought, Democracy and diversity, Nationalism and citizenship, Politics of identity.

My publications are in the fields of liberalism, multiculturalism, and Rousseau’s political thought and my current research is on the relationship between democracy, liberalism, and nationalism.

"My teaching of political theory and practice is thoroughly informed by my previous professional experience of “real” world politics as a journalist I always strive to give students a flavor of the reality and the complexity of the world in which we live and how that conditions the possibilities of the world that we might one day live in."